FFC-type cables are highly flexible, have multiple conductors, and are extraordinarily convenient in work and versatile in applications. Therefore, FFC-type cables and related connectors are widely used in such home electronic devices as compact-disk players and video cameras, and in such office equipment as copiers and facsimile machines.
There is a number of connectors offered for use with the FFC cables, for example, connectors described in the disclosure publication of Japanese Utility Model No. 64 (1989)-13682. In such conventional connectors for cables, connections are generally made by inserting the end of the FFC cable and the extension of a slider between one beam-shaped contact and the inner wall of the insulating housing.
However, because of the necessity to use sliders, such connectors for the cables become rather large and have many parts, which is inconsistent with the latest requirements toward the reduction of the dimensions and the cost of electronic equipment. In addition, since the insertion of the FFC cable using the slider can be done with little or without any insertion force, its retention force in the connector depends entirely on the elasticity of the beam-shaped contact, and, as a rule, the retention force is rather low.
Therefore, the purpose of this invention is to offer a connector for flat cables free of the above mentioned problems associated with the conventional connectors for FFC cables, which is easy to manufacture, provides for an easy connection, has a small number of parts and small dimensions, and which is characterized by a high cable-retention force.